INDIANA ADVANCES TO ECF 🔥 ‘Pacers got HOT…Cavs ran out of gas’ – Danny Green | SportsCenter

INDIANA ADVANCES TO ECF 🔥 ‘Pacers got HOT…Cavs ran out of gas’ – Danny Green | SportsCenter

The Pacers looking to get promoted to the East Finals. Yeah, with a 3-1 lead. It will be back-to-back years that they made a conference finals appearance. And they would have to do it in enemy territory against Cleveland. Now, the Pacers taking on the Cavs in game five. The Pacers are 9-0 all time when holding a 3-1 lead in a best of seven series and are hoping to close out the series on Tuesday against that man. He’s back from injury. First quarter, Cavs lead by nine and they’re playing defense here. Give me the rock. Jared Allen gets it to Donovan Mitchell and he Venmos Jared Allen for the reverse slam. Call that the chaa slide slam because it’s a reverse reverse. Later in the first, Mitchell with the steel. Oh, that’s tough. And one ref after the missed free throw. The Cavs would lead by 11. Second quarter. Tyrese Hallebert. And this is when he locked in. Two plus one from deep. Don’t leave him open like that. Pierce is now within seven. Later in the second, Hallebert gets another one just like DJ Cal would say. Paces trailing by five. This man went five for five in the second quarter from three. The most that he’s had in a playoff in a quarter in his playoff career. Paces trail by 50 by four at the half. Now we go to the third. Just over seven minutes to play. Pacers trailing by two. Posel Seakum. He’s also dialed in from deep. Pacers take the one-point lead. They were down by 19 at one point under 3 minutes to go in the third. Hallebertton, how’s your float game? Real good. Pacers up by 10. LeBron James tweeted at this game. He was like, “Why do y’all overrate this man?” Put some respect on his name. DeAndre Hunter, he’s got respect on his name, too. That’s three plus a foul. Now at the line, Hunter’s free throw won’t go, but Evan Mobley gets a rebound. And Darius Garland, don’t worry about the toe. He’s still getting buckets. Five-point trip down the court for the Cavs who trail by one. Now in the fourth, Hallebertton going down coast to coast. That’s a euro. Earned some flight miles there. Cavs fans getting nervous. Hallebertton had 31, y’all. They lead by seven. 227 left to play. Mitchell gets one to go from beyond the ark. Cavs within six. He was doing everything that he can. Mitchell will be fouled. He’s on the free throw line. Misses one. misses the second. What’s going on here? Come on now. Come on. You got this, Mitchell. Lock in, my boy. Misses the third. For the first time in his career, Mitchell goes 0 for three from the line after being fouled on a three. So now Cavs trailing by six. Hallebertton driving. Moy will get the block. And now Mitchell will sink the three. He said, “If I’m not going to get three at the free throw line, I might about get might as well get it here.” He had 35 points. Pacers lead by three here. Andrew Nimhard gets one to go in the paint plus the foul. That’s tough. Pacers up by six after the free throw. Under 30 seconds to play. Miles Turner 61 from deep. You can might as well put them in the coffin for that one right here. Pacers win 114 105 and will head to the conference championship in backto back years. Now the Pacers trail by as many as 19 points tonight before coming back to seal the series. tie for the fourth largest comeback in a series clinching win this century. Indiana also erased a 20point deficit last round versus the Bucks to lock up that series. So they just do this. ESPN NBA analyst Danny Green joins us now. Danny, anybody who said they saw this coming, I’m like, “Yeah, right. The Cavs fall to the Pacers. What did you see with how they played tonight?” I mean, they they fought. They played very well to start the game, but then that second quarter, Tyrese Hollenburg got hot and the game just took a wild turn for them. Nobody expected this because nobody expected them to lose three games at home. They lost the first two games that they had home court advantage on and then, you know, game five or no game six, sorry, at home. So, nobody saw those games being L’s, especially with the way that they had health healthy players in these last two games. They would expect them to make a comeback, but injuries hurt them a little bit, but they just were gassed, man. They didn’t have enough in the tank. As you seen, Donovan Mitchell missed three free throws in a row. Very uncharacteristic, very unlike him, but they were up 19. And then, you know, Indiana just kept fighting time at the time. They made the right plays down the stretch. Everybody stepped up outside of Tyrese Halbert. Miles Turner hit some big shots. Nem hard, Pascal Seakum. They even got Thomas Bryan in the party. You know, Indiana made the right plays they needed to make and Cleveland struggled early on. You know, Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland think four for 19 from three. It’s hard to win a game when you’re not hitting and the other team is hitting threes and you guys aren’t making threes. It’s hard to win a basketball game like that. Yeah, Cleveland such a dominant regular season, but like you said, looks like they just ran out of gas. The Pacers, of course, they win, they advance, but you talked about Tyrese Hallebertton and how well he played. What impressed you the most about him and these Pacers? Just his consistency. You know, Mr. Overrated, right? Everybody’s calling him overrated. He’s definitely not overrated. He’s been able to step up time and time again. You know, last year’s playoffs, he probably played well every other game. Not this year. He’s a totally different Tyresese Haliburn. He’s playing well, you know, 80% of the time now in these games. He might have had one bad game in this series, maybe a game and a half, but he stepped up that second quarter, kept the team poised, knocked down shots, made the right plays, and didn’t force it. You know, he he had 31 points, but he also had eight assists, six rebounds. He got his teammates involved. He uplifted his teammates, got Pascal. I said he got Nemhard, all those guys. N Smith and Ben Matan, you got all those pieces to fight and grit out this type of win on the road. So, it’s going to be in the next round. Pacers against the Knicks or the Celtics. How do you see the Pacers fairing as they advance to this next round? I see it being a good series. They’re more mature than they were last year. They’ve been there before. They got a chance to play the Knicks in the finals or the second round last year. So, as it stands or as it looks right now, it looks like they’re going to be playing the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals. That’s my prediction. I see the Knicks wrapping that one up soon if not by next game. But, they’re going to play the Knicks, a team that they faced last year in the playoffs and they’ve been there. They have the experience that, you know, to be in that type of situation on that type of floor with the bright lights on that stage. I think this this series or that series will go to six or seven games regardless of who they match up with, but I see them playing against the Knicks and going six or seven games. And it’s a series that nobody is putting them out of out of range or out of doubt. This is a series that they can very much win. Yep. They were looking past Indie before this series. Not anymore. Danny Green, so great to talk to you. Appreciate it, man. Thank you. Meanwhile, huge blow for those Celtics. Jason Tatum had surgery this afternoon to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon. The injury happened last night. Game four lost to the Knicks. Tatum in the midst of a 42-point night going for the ball. Three minutes to go in the fourth when he crumpled down to the ground as you see there in pain. They had to carry him off the court. The surgery deemed successful, but no timetable for his return. Now you look at the odds here. Down 3-1 without their best player. The Celtics are still favorites to win game five back at the TD Garden on Wednesday. The Knicks are going to try to close things out and reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000. New on Sports Center, Donovan Mitchell reacts at the podium. They’ve been there. We had some mental lapses. Um, and they capitalized and those can change a series. You lose game one, you’re chasing a series. Game two happens chasing and you give a lot of energy game three and then game four. like, you know, find an uphill battle against a team that has the fastest pace in league history. Um, yeah, I saw that you went back out on the court a little bit after the final buzzer. What was going through your mind at that point? What were you trying to process? Just couldn’t believe it. Um, didn’t want to believe it. Don’t want to believe it. Still don’t want to believe it. It’s tough. It’s tough to win this league. Give them credit. We didn’t do the things necessary. That energy, that crowd, we’re owning three at home, you know, let the city down, man. That’s This place is special. This place is really special and we didn’t get it done, Chris. I guess especially at home, that’s what hurts, you know. Um, yeah. I mean just feel like for us we had a lot of positives, a lot of but you know I told you during the year we’re going to be judged off this there going to be a lot of talk. It’s what comes with it and we’ve we didn’t capitalize. Um, so now we got to use this as motivation. Everybody’s going to write us off. Everybody in here, I mean, it’s not personal. So, what are we going to do about it next year? And um yeah, I know black and white, but considering that you guys had a 64 win season and then have your season end the same game as last year, do you view this year as a success? Um, we took a step in the right direction, but we didn’t win a championship and we didn’t complete the end goal. So, no, there’s no moral victories here. Um, we just didn’t get the job done. There’s really nothing else to be said. The Cavs have had a dominant regular season from start to finish, but the road ends here in the conference semis. Cleveland’s 64 regular season wins are tied for the third most by a team to not advance to the conference semi-finals. Only the Spurs in 2016 and the Mavs in 2017 had more. Now the Pacers are back in the Eastern Conference Finals after just their second ever series win against a one seed. The other came in 1994 against the Hawks. That one 31 years ago was wrapped up in six games. Ryan, now it’s the second straight year Indiana reaches the Eastern Conference Finals, a place it has struggled in the past. 1-8 in the conference finals is the worst record in either conference by a team that made at least three appearances. On the other side are two Pacers or two teams of Pacers faced last year in the postseason. Indiana is a combined seven and eight in playoff series against those two, but five of those wins came against the Knicks, including the semis last year. Now, the Pacers trailed by as many as 19 points tonight before coming back to seal the series, tied for the fourth largest comeback in a series clinching win this century. Indiana also erased a 20point deficit last round versus the Bucks to lock up that series. Here’s Pac’s head coach Rick Carile after the game. The winning team writes the script and you know I I just have to give our guys credit. They earned this. Look, we’re talking about eight more wins for an NBA championship. We’ve just got to keep believing. We got a great group of guys. We’ll see whether it’s New York or Boston. Uh this group is special. Um, we’ve, you know, this has been built by many different, you know, moves and adding P has, you know, been huge for us and we just kind of went from there. But yeah, man, I don’t take this for granted. It’s a lot of fun and, uh, winning winning is fun. So, uh, you know, we just want to continue to do what we’re doing and just take this a day at a time. Enjoy this one tonight, but, you know, be ready for whoever’s next. And for me, it’s just like we have a great opportunity. last year like we literally where we was at last year and you know when we got in the summer we talked about getting better like you know this this is the opportunity now to get better um show that we took a step and and and that’s that’s the that’s the mentality that we going you know we have going into the next games is um we have a real opportunity and and we can’t we can’t we can’t take it for granted. I can’t stress it enough. We’re different than every other team in the NBA. You know, we don’t just have one guy who scores all the points or you know we we I think we defeat teams in different ways. as we move the ball, the ball was flying. We got a lot of different guys making shots, making plays. You know, I I had a a great game, but you know, I think a big part of that was guys were finding me, putting me in the right spots. Uh we knew they were going to throw a punch. You know, we talked about that. Uh we knew that they were going to, you know, throw a haymaker there, but I thought we weathered the storm the right way and uh got going from there. So, really proud of our effort and um you know, proud of this group. And they’re proud of you. In the biggest moments, Tyrese Hallebertton shows up his second series clincher with five or more three-pointers, tying Richie Miller for the most such games in franchise history. Hallebertton also did it last season in game seven against the Knicks. All right, Ryan, how about this game five? The Golden State Warriors will be on the road against Minnesota for game five. The Warriors trailed three games to one right now in the series and they will try to keep their season alive without Steph Curry who still recovering from a hamstring injury that he suffered in game one. We now welcome in ESPN analyst Danny Green back with us here on Sports Center. Danny, the Warriors said Steph would be re-evaluated after one week when he sustained his injury and now seven days later, Kyrie has officially been ruled out. Hamstrings, they’re a tricky injury. How, if at all, can the Warriors survive game five without him to force a game six? I I don’t think they do. That’s the answer. Um, but it’s going to take a lot from everybody. You know, it’s going to take a lot of prayer, but a lot of Jimmy Butler. We need to see, you know, playoff Jimmy that we see in the Miami Heat uniform and a Golden State uh Warriors uniform. We’re going to need to see Pazki step up. Kaminga’s been playing well. We’re going to need that energy from him. Draymond, he’s got to keep a cool head and not get in foul trouble, not get technicals, and play really good defense. So, it’s going to take a collective effort. It’s not impossible, but it is very slim and unlikely to me for them to go into that Minnesota building and beat the Minnesota Timberwolves with a Stephless team, but it is very possible. So, anything can happen any night in the NBA in any sport really, but it’s going to take a lot of efforts from everybody all over the floor. And I don’t know if Jimmy has that type energy as we seen last game, his aggression was not nowhere near it was where it needed to be for them to win a ball game. Yeah, anything is most definitely possible. Kevin Garnett said that he’s a former Celtics. And speaking of Celtics, we have more injury news with they don’t have Jason Tatum and after Tatum underwent surgery with a ruptured Achilles today. The Celtics are going to have to be without him down 3-1 and having to win in game five. How can they overcome the loss of their star player? This is a tough one, man. And I I said send my prayers and thoughts to the families of the Jason Tat and Celtics, you know, organization, but mostly the Tatum family because that’s a tough injury to end your season on. But this Boston team has more of a chance than the Golden State team. I do believe that they can make it happen because they have so much talent. They have a team that can get hot and and kill you in many different ways. A flurry of threes. They have Peyton Pritchard. They have Drew Holiday. They have Porzingis. But those guys do have to step up. They’re going to need more from those guys. Derek White’s got to be great consistently. They’re going to need more from Drew Holidayiday, Porzingis, especially Peyton Pritchard as well. But this team can do it. And Jaylen Brown has to be the leader. You know, he’s been the longest tenure Celtic and he’s the guy that they pay the big bucks to. You got to show them why you were finals MVP or Eastern Conference Finals MVP last year or both of them anyway. So, he is very much capable of leading this team to getting a W. I don’t know if they win the series, but they can definitely win one more game at home in Boston. Yeah, most definitely. Thanks, Danny. We appreciate your insight, brother. Is Yeah, my guy. Warriors at Timberwolves 9:30 Eastern. Minnesota leads that series 3 to one. It’s a special feeling to be honest with you. Um, I’m not going to sit here and talk like I got so many years of experience. you know, I’m in my fifth year. Um, but something I’ve learned from my vets and just being in the NBA for enough time is to not take winning for granted, you know, and this is a special time. Uh, you know, back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals. Um, we’re not done. We still got, you know, a ways to go. Just couldn’t believe it. Um, didn’t want to believe it. Don’t want to believe it. Still don’t want to believe it. It’s tough. It’s tough to win this league. Give them credit. We didn’t do the things necessary. I love playing in that arena, man. Like that energy, that crowd. Rolling three at home, you know? Let the city down, man. That’s This place is special. This place is really special. And we didn’t get it done, Chris. Like, especially at home, that’s what hurts, you know? We showed you Cleveland with the early advantage, but no lead has been safe against the Pacers this postseason. This was their third 19-point comeback during this year’s playoffs, including their second to clinch the series. Before this year’s Pacers, just three other teams in the last 25 years had clinched the playoff series with a comeback win of at least 19 points. Jason Tatum didn’t waste any time. He has already had surgery to repair what turned out to be a torn right Achilles tendon. Tatum went down in a non-cont situation Monday in a game against the Knicks. Tatum facing a rehab process that will extend into next season. Celtics didn’t provide a timetable for his return. They’ll try to extend their playoff series Wednesday without him. In the area in the era of load management, Tatum has been one of the league’s most durable players. At 27, he’s played in 76 career games. That’s regular season and playoffs, the most in the NBA since he entered the league in the 1718 season. He’s also played on gold medal teams for the US at the last two Olympics.

SportsCenter runs back top plays and highlight moments from the Indiana Pacers closing out the Eastern Conference Semifinals, 4-1, with a 114-104 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers before Danny Green provides his analysis of the series.

0:00 Pacers vs. Cavaliers highlights
3:25 Danny Green reacts to Pacers advancing to ECF
6:19 Update on Jayson Tatum
6:57 Donovan Mitchell at the podium
10:00 Pacers return to ECF
11:23 Indiana Pacers at the podium
13:12 Danny Green on Warriors & Celtics
16:03 Tyrese Haliburton & Donovan Mitchell
17:30 Celtics without Jayson Tatum

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